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Yule
Musings
Christmas
is over, and we've just stepped into 2002. While we all celebrated this
festival in our own way, by exchanging presents, going out for a family
lunch or dinner, or just relaxing at home, most of us made sure to wish
our loved ones a Merry Christmas. But how much do we really know about
this holiday? Check out some fast facts about Christmas and Father Christmas,
our very own Santa Claus!
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Christmas is also
called Noel or Yuletide.
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Did you know that
Santa lives in the North Pole? That's right! He lives in a quiet town covered
with snow, called Lapland, which is in Finland.
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Santa Claus was
modeled after a real person, called St. Nicholas. Nicholas was a priest
who lived in Myra, which is now known as Turkey. He was very generous and
used to give presents to all the children.
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Santa has a tiny
little toy factory, in which he makes toys all year round, to give to all
the children who have been good during the year. He is helped by his workers,
who are elves. Sugarplum Mary, the female elf, is Mrs. Santa's helper in
the kitchen, and together they cook up yummy treats.
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Santa's sleigh
is pulled by eight reindeer. Their names are: Dasher, the captain of the
reindeer team, Dancer and Prancer, who are twins, Vixen and Cupid, the
lovey dovey couple, Donder, who wants to be captain and is Dasher's staunchest
rival, Blitzen and Comet.
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While Rudolph
is a good friend of Santa's and a faithful reindeer, he is not on Santa's
original reindeer team. Rudolph was immortalized in the song Rudolph the
Red Nosed Reindeer.
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Santa's sleigh
is guided by Blitzen, who's been struck by lightening so many times while
zipping around in the sky, he's actually electrically charged! Blitzen's
antlers constantly point North, which is why he's Santa's compass!
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Can you guess
how Comet got his name? He was struck by a comet, on his very first assignment
as Santa's reindeer on Christmas Eve. The comet was headed straight for
the earth, and Comet banged into it, averted its path, and saved the earth!
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One of the most
famous books based on Christmas is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
He immortalized the character of Scrooge, who is a mean miser and thinks
Christmas, the festival of giving, is nothing but 'humbug'! Scrooge is
then confronted by the Ghost of Christmas Past, Ghost of Christmas Present
and Ghost of Christmas Future, who place Scrooge's past, present and future
in front of him. When Scrooge sees himself dying alone, unloved, friendless
and with no one at his funeral, he resolves to change.
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People decorate
their houses with the fir tree and holly, which is a green plant with red
berries. Red and green soon came to be the colours of Christmas. The Poinsettia,
which is the traditional Christmas flower, is also red and green.
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Mistletoe is also
used to decorate the house on Christmas. According to tradition, if a girl
is standing under a mistletoe sprig, she cannot refuse to be kissed. Do
you know how this tradition of kissing under the mistletoe came about?
Click here and find out!
Find
out what Christmas is all about - Click here
To
discover five new ways of celebrating Christmas - Click
here
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this article or read others comments Click Here
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